Well, That Didn’t Take Long…
So it’s been 39 days since Kansas’ Mario Chalmers thrilled us all with his clutch three-pointer that sent the national title game into OT and crushed the foul-shooting-challenged Memphins Memphians Memphisers what the hell is it Memphis Tigers in the process. That’s just about enough time for our first scandal to arise!
Say It Isn’t So, Darrell!
WFAA.com in Dallas broke the story last night that Kansas forward Darrell Arthur may have been the recipient of a favorable grade change in his high school math class (Dallas South Oak Cliffs HS) that would otherwise have jeopardized his eligiblity (both at the prep and collegiate levels). The tale of the transcripts:
[T]ranscripts obtained by News 8 raise questions about whether he was actually making the grade in the classroom during his junior season, specifically in math. Transcripts show Arthur received no grades at all during his fall semester. His final grade was changed to a 70 in September 2005 without an explanation. If, in fact, Arthur had failed math that fall, he would not have been eligible to play basketball, and many of his team’s victories in that championship season might have to be forfeited, according to University Interscholastic League standards.
It gets worse, Jayhawk fans.
Former South Oak Cliff math teacher Winford Ashmore said Arthur had a history of trouble in math. He showed us his 2002 grade book for freshman math in which Arthur was making weekly failing grades: 45, 25 and 24. Ashmore said then-principal Donald Moten, and current head basketball coach James Mays Jr., both asked him to bypass the rules and award Arthur a passing grade. “Darrell was still failing, and was not making much of an effort in class, and was not coming to tutoring,” Ashmore said. “So at that point I ensured Moten — as well as James Mays Jr. — that Darrell Arthur was going to get an F for the six weeks.” Days later, without teacher approval, Arthur was dropped from Ashmore’s class. And despite those low grades, transcripts reflect Arthur received a passing grade of 70.
KU better start hoping that Ashmore (wasn’t he on Fresh Prince of Bel Air?) is a Texas fan with an active imagination. But credibility seems to lie on Ashmore’s side. Principal Moten recently resigned from his post at the high school in light of another grade-changing scandal involving a class subsequent to Arthur’s.
The Kansas blogs are strangely quiet on this so far this morning, but maybe they’re still in shock. We know we would be too. After all, if Arthur is retroactively found ineligible, their season could be officially relegated to the trashbin that 1993 Michigan and 1996 UMass find themselves. Except that it’s worse. 2008 Kansas was the national champion, in case you’d forgotten.
Photo Credit: Mike Stone/Dallas News
What’s KU got to do with this? The alleged grade changing happened long before Arthur was interested in KU. He had a verbal with Indiana, until Mike Davis left. The NCAA Clearinghouse said he was eligible and KU gave him a scholarship.
SuperCorona, if Arthur didn’t actually make the grades necessary to meet eligibility requirements he should not have played, which means all the Jayhawks victories would be voided.
Right. Playing with an ineligible player (even if it wasn’t KU’s fault) exposes KU to the liability (i.e., penalties) of using him.
[...] Draft Preview Version 1.0 Lost in the huge O.J. Mayo scandal and the smaller Darrell Arthur scandal is the upcoming NBA Draft, which is a little over 1 month away. Unlike last year, where there was [...]
[...] Associate AD Jim Marchiony says nothing to see here with respect to the Darrell Arthur grade-changing scandal in high school. If Arthur were returning to KU next year, he may face some kind of suspension [...]
It is obviously a fact that Coach James Mays, Jr. runs a program that is not clean. One must keep eyes and ears open for the wrong doing that is in South Oak Cliff’s sport program.
If, and that is a big supposition, grades were changed for DA during his sophomore year in High School, it has no effect on KU or his college eligibility. The teacher likely violated state and federal privacy laws by illegally peering into a student’s grades and then showing the grades to the media. If anyone is at fault here, it is the accuser, because academic records are protected material that should NEVER be given out without a judicial warrant or a waiver from the student. There’s a reason schools must obtain academic transcripts directly from the student or have the student fill out a waiver form.
Also, KU is not affected by this because the university was given clearance for DA from the NCAA Clearinghouse, whose responsibility is to ensure the validity of transcripts. This usually entails precursory interviews with school officials, be it via phone or in person. The Clearinghouse has no legal authority to depose teachers or administrators for the purposes of validating a transcript, so they must go on the words of the interviewees, the transcript, and the school’s standing in the community and state. KU is absolved of any and all wrong doing, because at no time were they ever informed of supposed wrong doing. KU is an ethically run school (the ‘88 probation was caused by Brown providing airfare for a student to return home to visit an ailing relative… after the KU and SMU ordeals, they subsequently changed the rules to actually be fair… not that SMU didn’t deserve their death sentence)
Anyone that claims KU’s National Championship should be voided is simply ludicrous, jealous, angry, or a mixture of the three. DA had good grades at KU, mainly because the university provides mandatory tutoring for all first-year student D1 student athletes, and closely monitors ALL academic performance of student athletes (e.g. Bill Self finds out same or next day if a player misses a class)
[...] Kansas gets to keep their NCAA title? Darrell Arthur, a key member of Kansas team in 2008, had a grade changed while in high school to keep him eligible. His team had to forfeit their state championship win. If [...]